Five things

13102008

Andy Stanley closed the last session of the Catalyst Conference last week talking about stuff that he has on his mind. Tim Stevens summarized those five things on his blog Friday:

1) To reach people no one else is reaching, we have to do things no one else is doing (Craig Groeschel) – we have 175,000 people within 10 miles of Northpoint, and we aren’t reaching them. We aren’t going to reach them by building another church building. We have to do something no one else is doing.

Become preoccupied with those you want to reach rather than those you are trying to keep.

2) The best idea for reaching the next generation isn’t going to come from the existing generation, it’s going to come from the next generation.

If you are over 45 years old, you aren’t going to have any good ideas. It’s your job to recognize the good ideas.

Don’t do to the next generation what the previous generation did to you.

Be a student, not a critic.

3) I’m looking for what can’t be done in church, but if it could be done would fundamentally change the church.

It always used to drive me nuts that the communicator and the leader had to be the same thing.

Multi-site solved this. Now the great leader doesn’t have to be the teacher.

Like that, you may be the one to crack the code on something no one else has figured out that will fundamentally change our “business.”

Pay attention to people who are breaking the rules. It’s the rule-breakers who are oftentimes the problem solvers.

4) If we got kicked out by our board, and they hired a new guy, what would the new guy change or do different? Let’s walk out the door and walk back in, and make those changes.

The problem with ministry is that we’ve fallen in love with the way we’ve done ministry.

It’s not “no pain, no gain” — it’s “no pain, no change.” Without pain, there typically isn’t any change.

Ask: “Where are we manufacturing energy?” The things we aren’t very excited about, it takes energy to get it done, but the results aren’t stellar.

Acknowledge what’s not working. Own up to it. And own up to why you aren’t willing to do anything about it. What is it you fear? You need to deal with that. It is a leadership lid for you.

5) When your memories exceed your dreams, the end is near. You look back with smiles and lots to celebrate, but you don’t have a lot to work forward to.

Are you willing to be involved in the future more than the present?

Don’t let success overshadow your vision.

Success breeds complacency and complacency breeds failure.

Need ideas about what to do next? …these sure are some great starting points.